Avani Lekhara
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YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
2021
‘Best Female Debut’ honour for para shooter Avani:
Indian shooter Avani Lekhara won the “Best Female Debut” honour at the 2021 Paralympic Awards for her record-breaking gold medal at the Tokyo Games. The 20-yearold from Jaipur, who sustained spinal cord injury in a car accident in 2012, won the gold in the women’s 10m Air Rife Standing SH1 event earlier this year. With that special feat, she had broken the Paralympic Games record besides equalling the world record. AGENCIES
As in 2021 Aug
Mandakini Shalya, August 31, 2021: The Times of India
In 2012, Avani Lekhara’s world turned upside down. Her spinal cord got damaged in a car accident which paralysed her from the waist down. Initially, life made no sense to her as she pushed herself to start afresh. Today, the Jaipur girl is proud to have given herself a second shot at life and not get bogged down by her disability.
The 19-year-old shooter won the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle standing (SH1), defeating reigning champion Zhang Cuiping of China and Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik, who won silver and bronze, respectively.
“She is elated. She wanted a great start to her campaign and it happened. It has not been an easy journey, so where she has reached today is highly commendable,” Avani’s coach Suma Shirur told TOI from Tokyo.
Avani’s father Praveen Lekhara, employed with the Revenue Appellate Authority in Sriganganagar, was yet to speak to her daughter and was emotional while talking about her journey as a para shooter. “Life changed in minutes. While our family was on the way to Dholpur from Jaipur, our car skidded and overturned.
“My wife, son Arnav and I suffered injuries which healed with time, but Avani ended up with a damaged spinal cord. The girl who used to love dancing and extracurricular activities in school suddenly found herself in a dark corner,” said Praveen, who at the time of the accident was an ADM in Dholpur.
Shuttling between Agra, Jaipur and Delhi for his daughter’s treatment, the father was told by the doctors, “Keep her engaged and occupied and that will help her recovery.”
In 2015, Avani had her first introduction with shooting when her father took her to the Jagatpura Shooting Range. She developed interest in the sport and started making progress in 2016 under coach Chandra Shekhar. “She was very weak then and given the nature of her injury, she found it hard to manage. Gradually, with physical conditioning things improved. I first gave her the Feinwerkbau 800 junior rifle — which is light in weight. She progressed to a Walther Mmonotec air rifle before the WSPS World Cup held in Al Ain in 2019,” her coach Chandra Shekhar said.
Avani started training under former India shooter Shirur in 2018 at her Lakshya Shooting Academy in Mumbai. “I treated her like other shooters at my academy. When she became a part of our academy, we got certain changes done to make the place para athlete-friendly. Working on her technique was the main focus as being technically sound at events like Paralympics matters the most,” said Shirur.
After a slightly shaky start on Monday, Shirur told her to ‘focus on the technique’. “It was a very technical chat and I added that you are very courageous as well, so you can do it,” she added.
Avani’s inspiration is 2008 Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra. In the past she has credited him for inspiring her through his autobiography ‘A Shot At History’. Avani has three more events — 10m air rifle prone mixed (R3), 50m rifle prone mixed (R6) and 50m rifle 3-position women (R8) — lined up in the coming days. Do we dare hope for more?
Gold-at-Paralympics
PTI: August 30, 2021: The Times of India
TOKYO: Shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history on Monday as she became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympics, firing her way to the top of the podium in the R-2 women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event.
The 19-year-old from Jaipur, who sustained spinal cord injuries in a car accident in 2012, finished with a world record equalling total of 249.6, which is also a new Paralympic record.
She is only the fourth Indian athlete to win a Paralympics gold after swimmer Murlikant Petkar (1972), javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia (2004 and 2016) and high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu (2016).
"I can't describe this feeling, I'm feeling like I'm on top of the world. It's unexplainable," an elated Lekhara said.
Hers is also the first shooting medal that India has logged in the showpiece.
"I'm so happy I could be the one to contribute it. Hopefully there's a lot of medals more to come," Lekhara said.
Lekhara edged out 2016 Rio Games gold-medallist Cuiping Zhangh of China who clinched the silver medal with a total of 248.9 at the Asaka Shooting Range.
World number one and reigning world champion Iryna Shchetnik of Ukraine took home the bronze with an effort of 227.5. "I was just saying one thing, that I have to take one shot at a time. There's nothing else matters now, just take one shot at a time and just finish it.
"I just think that I have to follow the process. Beyond that, I try not to think about the score or the medal tally," Lekhara said reflecting on her final.
This is Lekhara's first major international medal. She had finished fourth in the last world championship in 2019.
Appearing in her maiden Paralympics, Lekhara, ranked fifth in the world, consistently shot 10s in both the competition stages. She was set to obliterate the world record but two 9.9s towards the end cost her the mark. In the qualification round, Lekhara had finished seventh with a total 621.7.
Encouraged by her father to get involved in a sport, Lekhara initially tried both shooting and archery.
She found she enjoyed shooting more, and was also inspired by 2008 Beijing Olympics gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra after reading his book.
She began shooting in 2015 at Jagatpura Sports Complex in Jaipur.
A student of law, Lekhara made her debut for India in 2017 World Cup in Al Ain, UAE.
